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RECOMMENDATIONS
by the 10th Session of Coordinating Committee on Hydrometeorology and Monitoring of the Caspian Sea

 

The 10th Session  of Coordinating Committee on Hydrometeorology and Monitoring of the Caspian Sea (CASPCOM) was held  in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, on 30 November – 1 December 2005. The Session  was attended  by  participants from  NHMS/NMS of Azerbaijan, Iran,  Kazakhstan, Russia  and  Turkmenistan. The Session  reviewed the items of the agenda  and made  recommendations  as follows.

National activities towards solving   high priority problems  in the field of  hydrometeorology and pollution monitoring   of the Caspian Sea (Agenda Item 3)
Having noted and approved  the growing activity of the NHMS/NMS of the Caspian States on solving the priority problems in hydrometeorology and monitoring  pollution of the Caspian Sea, the session recommended as follows.

  1. CASPCOM  to establish  a working group (WG) of   NHMS/NMS experts in the hydrodynamic modeling of the Caspian Sea whose tasks are to
    1. Analyze the existing atmospheric circulations  models and the hydrodynamics models of the Caspian Sea  , and other internal and marginal seas (Black, Baltic, etc.);
    2. Evaluate the skills  of the regional models in diagnosing and forecasting  wind, waves, currents, wind surges, water exchange, transport of pollution and oil spills in the Caspian Sea;
    3. Update the regional models and to draft recommendations on  model applications to practical and scientific problems in hydrometeorology and pollution monitoring  the Caspian Sea.

       (b) NHMS/NMS to provide the CASPCOM Secretariat with the list of the WG members and to inform the members on the WG  tasks . The CASPAS Coordinator is to draft the Terms of Reference of the WG for their  further presentation to the 11th Session of CASPCOM. The first meeting of the WG is to be held   back to back with the 11th Session of CASPCOM.
( c ) NHMS/NMS  to speed up the activities on the satellite determination of the heights of the sea level observation sites (primarily, with the long periods of observations) with a due account of the experience gained by Roshydromet in 2004 – 2005. By 30 April 2006, Roshydromet is to provide a report describing a methodology, technology and results of this work. The CASPCOM Secretariat shall distribute it among the NHMS/NMS.
(d) The NHMS/NMS  to take measures aimed at improving exchange of the current hydrometeorological information  thus filling the existing gaps in the data series.

Coordination of research and monitoring activities in the Caspian Sea following the IOC Workshop, Astrakhan, Russia, 11-13 November 2004  ( Agenda Item 4.3)
The Session noted information on the IOC Workshop recommendations , provided  by the former CASPAS Coordinator. After a discussion, the session agreed that  at the moment establishing of  a WG of the WMO, IOC and UNEP representatives  as recommended by the IOC Workshop was not feasible due to lack of   a signed Agreement as the legal basis for the CASPCOM cooperation with the international organization and also  due to serious financial implications for the international organization. Instead,  a better  cooperation between the projects and programmes in the Caspian Sea is recommended to be achieved by increased exchange between CASPCOM and other regional organizations programmes , primarily with CEP. The CASPCOM Chairman

    1. to address the international organizations requesting to inform the CASPCOM continuously about activities of the programme and projects performed under their auspices in the Caspian Sea;
    2. to invite the international organization to participate  in the 11th CASPCOM Session.

 

Participation of  the NHMS experts in the finalization of  the Protocols to the Framework Convention for the  protection of the  marine environment of the Caspian Sea, Tehran, November, 2003(Agenda Item 4.2)
Having  noted the report by Roshydromet and information by Kazhydromet on their participation in drafting Protocols  to the Framework Convention , the Session recommended  that CASPCOM and NHMS/NMS should continue such participation  in order to insure that the potential  of the NHMS in providing informational support to protection of the Caspian Sea marine environment becomes more visible. The CASPCOM Chairman to request UNEP  to  include CASPCOM/NHMS experts in the working groups  drafting the Protocols.

On cooperation with CEP during  the 2nd phase of its implementation (Agenda Item 4.3)
The session noted with satisfaction a wider  cooperation  between CASPCOM/NHMS  and the Caspian Ecological Programme (CEP) in planning and implementation of the expedition surveys of the marine environment pollution and studies of pollutant fluxes with the river  flow. Also noted was a  convergence of  the CASPCOM and CEP views on participation of  NHMS and CASPCOM in the information support of the Caspian Sea environment protection.  The CASPCOM Secretariat to request  the  CEP Project Coordination Unit (CEP CPU) to widen the NHMS participation in  the ship surveys at the Caspian Sea. The NHMS  to draft and  provide  proposals for better information exchange with CEP  to the CASPAS Coordinator   by 31 March 2006  for their  summarizing  and  submitting to CEP CPU.

Progress in national agreeing upon and preparation for signing the draft “Agreement between the Caspian States on cooperation in the field of hydrometeorology and monitoring of the natural environment of the Caspian Sea” in the Caspian states
The session expressed  concern  on  emergence of  new  circumstances, especially  the Framework Convention on Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea (Tehran, Islamic  Republic of Iran, November 2003), which  had led to changes in the country’s positions in respect to the Agreement. In particular, Azerbaijan delegation proposed to omit references to pollution monitoring in the text of Agreement  because  pollution monitoring had been dealt with by  Art. 19 of the Framework Convention.

In view of this,  session  recommended that the agreeing procedure should not just continued but  intensified. To achieve that, the session recommended to establish  a Working Group of experts of NHMS/NMS and Foreign Ministries of the Caspian States  to  agree upon  the draft Agreement and to hold a meeting of the Working Group in Moscow on 10-12 January 2006.  

 

The major tasks of oceanographic research  and observations in the Caspian Sea and measures towards further implementation of the CASPCOM Action Plan for 2004-2006
NHMS/NMS to draft and adopt  national plans for implementation of the CASPCOM-10 recommendations, to nominate the national  focal points and  assign them with implementing the plans in coordination with CASPCOM Secretariat and  CASPAS Coordinator. The national  implementation plans  are to include

    1. providing  information support  to the CASPCOM site ;
    2. describing  the present state of the observation network;
    3. establishing networks of the NHMS experts in the priority problems of hydrometeorology and pollution monitoring of the Caspian Sea.

 CASPAS Coordinator to draft and present at the 11 Session of CASPCOM a structure of the annually updated electronic reference book on hydrometeorology of the Caspian Sea.

Formal   nomination  of  the CASPAS Coordinator 
Dr. Sergey Monakhov, the Director of the Roshydromet  Caspian Research Marine Centre, located in Astrakhan, Russian Federation  was formally nominated as the CASPAS Coordinator.

Other  issues
The session agreed to  the IRIMO suggestion that the CASPCOM Secretariat should be formed on principle  of rotation and  based in the country  the currently chairing  CASPCOM. The CASPCOM Secretariat to provide NHMS with the Terms of Reference of the  CASPCOM Secretariat and CASPAS Coordinator, adopted by  CASPCOM-5 (Obninsk, Russian Federation, October 2001) by 31 December 2006. CASPAS Coordinator to draft proposals on  a procedure for  a smooth transfer of  the Secretariat powers  and responsibilities  as chairmanship is passed from one country to another   and present them at  CASPCOM –11.   

The session noted  information by the CEP representative on the CEP project on persistent organic pollutants (POP) in the Caspian Sea Basin. CASPAS Coordinator to  request CEP PCU to  provide more information on this project for further  passing it  to the Caspian NHMS with an proposal on participation in its implementation. 

 

Date and place of    11th  Session  of CASPCOM
The session agreed to hold the 11th Session of CASPCOM  in the Russian Federation in September 2006. CASPCOM Secretariat to specify the place and  exact dates of the session and inform the  NHMS of the Caspian states.

Agreement Between the Caspian  States on Hydrometeorology and Environment Pollution Monitoring